What happened next? Every first-team striker discarded by Pep Guardiola

2017-07-20 17:46:34
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Author：Oliver Young-Myles |
Source：squawka

Abstract: ​ Like all great managers, Pep Guardiola is renowned for having a ruthless side when it comes to selling players.

Whether a player in question doesn’t fit in with his notoriously demanding tactical demands or simply falls out-of-favour with him, there is usually no way back once Guardiola has decided he wants a player to go.

During spells with Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City, Guardiola has allowed some talented players to leave regardless of their reputations.

But has he always made the correct decision when selling big-name players? Here is what happened next to every first-team striker moved on by Guardiola.

Fresh from helping Barcelona win an unprecedented treble in Guardiola’s maiden season in charge, Samuel Eto’o was deemed surplus to requirements and embarrassingly offered to Inter as a makeweight in a deal to sign Zlatan Ibrahimovic in 2009.

Still only 28 at the time, Eto’o appeared determined to prove his old manager wrong upon his arrival at San Siro and quite incredibly, won the treble for a second consecutive year as Jose Mourinho’s Inter side won the lot in 2010. Even sweeter for Eto’o, his new side beat his old in a tempestuous Champions League semi-final meeting.

Admittedly that year was the best it got for Eto’o upon leaving Barcelona as he has embarked on a somewhat nomadic career since, taking in stints with Anzhi Makhachkala, Chelsea, Everton, Sampdoria and Antalayaspor, who he briefly managed in 2015.

Guardiola moved heaven and earth to land the gigantic Swedish striker with Barcelona shelling out a then club-record £59m plus Samuel Eto’o to Inter in 2009.

Ibrahimovic started his career at Barcelona well and enjoyed a good record overall scoring 22 goals in 46 games, however there was a huge personality clash between him and Guardiola. In his autobiography, I am Zlatan, Ibrahimovic refers to Guardiola (negatively) as The Philosopher.

With Guardiola building his team around Lionel Messi, there was no space for Ibrahimovic and it was no surprise when he departed for AC Milan, initially on loan and then permanently for just €24m.

Thierry Henry won the lot as a player but the one thing missing from his trophy cabinet was a Champions League winners medal. He duly collected one of those while at Barcelona, playing his part in the 2009 treble success.

The following season saw him lose his place permanently to Pedro Rodriguez, culminating in a summer switch to New York Red Bulls where he went on to score 52 goals in 135 matches.

Henry even managed a short but sweet loan spell with Arsenal midway through his stay in New York, further adding to his legend in the red half of North London by scoring two goals in seven appearances to take him to 228 for the club overall.

Lauded as the next great hope for Barcelona and Spain, Bojan Krkic had established himself as a regular member of the Barcelona squad in the season preceding Pep at the tender age of 17.

He continued to be involved heavily in Guardiola’s first three years in charge without fully establishing himself in the starting XI or building on the early promise he had shown under Frank Rijkaard.

Eventually, he decided to move on, joining Roma in 2011 before turning out for AC Milan, Ajax, Stoke City and Mainz. Bojan won the Eredivisie while in Amsterdam and impressed in patches while at Stoke but has largely failed to fulfil his potential.

Despite plundering 113 goals in 174 games for Bayern Munich, Mario Gomez never looked like an ideal fit for Guardiola owing to his lackadaisical work-rate and fitness issues.

He was promptly offloaded soon after Guardiola had arrived with Florence a surprising if picturesque destination. Gomez’s spell at Fiorentina didn’t go particularly to plan, largely due to knee ligament problems leading to a loan move to Besiktas in 2015.

It is fair to say Gomez rediscovered his goalscoring touch in Turkey, scoring 28 goals in 33 league matches to fire Besiktas to the Turkish Super Lig title and that form resulted in a transfer back to Germany to join Wolfsburg.

The scorer of Bayern Munich’s opening goal in the 2013 Champions League final, Mario Mandzukic seemed to adapt well to Guardiola’s methods, scoring 26 goals in 48 matches in his debut season but was sold to Atletico Madrid to make room for Robert Lewandowski.

Despite appearing to be the perfect striker for Diego Simeone at Atletico, Mandzukic didn’t really find his feet in La Liga, culminating in a move to Juventus after just one season.

In Turin, though, the Croatian has been a real success story, finding a niche for himself as a wide target man in Max Allegri’s side. His most memorable contribution for the Old Lady was to score a remarkable overhead kick in the Champions league final last season.

A player who seemed to thrive at Bayern Munich, joining the club in 2012 following a fruitful stint at Werder Bremen.

The Peruvian hotshot stuck around at the Allianz for a further two years under Guardiola, managing 43 appearances and scoring 12 times but was allowed to leave at the end of his contract in 2015 to rejoin, you guessed it, Werder Bremen for a third spell.

Pizarro left Werder at the end of last season and at the age of 38 is without a club.